UK Statistical System UK Statistics Authority Office for Statistics Regulation
Case studies Ofsted

Engaging users during a review of outputs

This is a case study for Principle V1: Relevance to users.

Ofsted undertook a review of its statistical publications to ensure that they continue to meet user needs. Ofsted engaged with internal and external users to understand more about their production processes and how they support internal and external uses of Ofsted statistics. The review considered a range of themes that are important to ensuring that statistics provide public value including:

  • The balance of official statistics, management information and statistical stories in meeting user needs
  • The expansion of the range of statistics and data it publishes to meet emerging user demands
  • Technical elements such as the platform that they are hosted on and the usefulness for its current tabulation tool versus APIs.

Ofsted collected feedback, which is summarised in a published report, from various user surveys and focus groups, and focussed on the following main questions:

  • Which of our statistical publications do you use?
  • How often do you use these publications?
  • For what purpose do you use these publications?
  • Do you read the commentary in the official statistics or mostly use the datasets?
  • How easy is it to find what you need, when you need it?
  • Which elements of the publications could we improve, and how?
  • Is there any other data that you think we should publish more frequently?

Ofsted reviewed the Code of Practice for Statistics and relevant legislation to be clear about what it must do, as a government organisation, and what it could or should do. It also engaged with the OSR domain team throughout to seek their input and keep them up to date with progress.

The evidence gathered from the review enabled Ofsted to create capacity to develop new statistical stories around its management information, through reducing the frequency of some official statistics products. It also helped Ofsted to take decisions on the future of its data exploration tool, Data View, and the platform on which its statistics are hosted.

The Director General of OSR wrote to Ofsted’s Head of Profession for Statistics to commend them on the review. He stated that he would encourage all statistics producers to undertake these types of activities, particularly at times of increased user demand and pressure on resources, to ensure that they continue to meet user needs.

Ofsted has started to implement changes based on the review. For example, it has published its first extended MI statistical commentary and reduced the frequency of one of its social care releases based on user need. It has also begun work to look at a DataView replacement, including a further user survey of future need. Ofsted’s post-inspection survey data, which was one of the identified areas of user interest, is also due for future publication.

This example highlights how Ofsted ensures that users of its statistics and data remain at the centre of statistical production, by openly engaging with users through various means during a period of review. This enables Ofsted to refresh its understanding of the main uses of its statistics, consider new user demands, and ensure that various uses of its statistics and data are supported.

Sharing resources and collaborating

This is a case study for Principle T4: Transparent processes and management.

Ofsted inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages. Ofsted is an official statistics producer that publishes statistics on its inspections and outcomes.

Ofsted statisticians identified an opportunity to explore data in the Ages and Stages Questionnaire collected by NHS Digital. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire is used to assess the development of preschool children, with all children in England eligible for a development review around their second birthday. This opportunity was driven by a desire to provide Ofsted inspectors with more information about early years settings.

A secondment arrangement was established after securing buy-in from senior leadership in both organisations. This provided an Ofsted analyst with secure access to NHS Digital data sources, allowing them to take forward the project with the appropriate security controls.

This sharing of resources resulted in the release of a publication which described the exploratory analysis undertaken. The report was welcomed by both producer bodies and demonstrated the value in focussing on improving the quality of some of NHS Digital’s less frequently used data sources.

This work is a good example of statistics producers working together to share resources and collaborate on a project that benefits both users and producers.